Countries will go to extremes to call something their own and if something is theirs there is no way they will let it go. America and Mexico both thought Texas was theirs so America took action which led to a war. The United States was justified in going to war with Mexico because American influence was already apart of the disputed territory, Mexico invaded Texas, and United States needed to complete Manifest Destiny.
Texas and California already had American influences which is a reason why America was justified in going to war with Mexico. Texas was about as American influenced as California with schools, courts, and mills (Document A). Texas was already alike United States so it was basically already apart of the country. Texas had slavery and was mostly protestant which is another reason why Mexico might have wanted it to be theirs but was not already (Document
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D). Also Texas was already industrialized much like the United States “armed with the plough and the rifle” (Document A). Mexico started the war because they invaded Texas and shed American blood on the American soil which is a just reason for the US to start war (Document B).
US military took position between the Nueces and Del Norte for self defense took action and declared war. This article, a piece of a message from the US President James Polk, could be biased because he wants to make America look good and make it look like they did nothing wrong. Once Mexico invaded, this was a good reason the start war with Mexico since so many were killed. The United States was only protecting their own and making sure it does not happen again.
Manifest destiny is the belief that God wants America to expand as far West as they can. Of course America would take this as a pass to start wars and do whatever they can to claim the land in the West because God wanted them to (Document A). Since Mexico said they owned the countries America needed to achieve their goal they started war to gain the territory and do what God wanted. Because God wanted them to it could not have been unjustified because they should follow what God
wants. The war with Mexico was justified because Texas and California already had American influence, Mexico invaded America which caused the war, and America needed to achieve manifest destiny. America would not stop at anything to achieve their goal of expanding West and would not let Mexico take what is theirs so war was necessary for them to do so. The war was argued for whether or not America was justified for doing so but for these reasons they are just and allows America to go to war with Mexico.
The interpretation of Manifest Destiny I see as the most obvious is that Manifest Destiny was a cover for many of people’s greed for the future prospects they were able to gain from those western lands. If it was true that people truly wanted to expand in the name of religion then why did the Indian Removal Act occur. The real answer I believe is because they were rapacious for prime bountiful land. With the acquisition of the west, they were able to gain valuable resources. By acquiring the west via The Treaty of Hidalgo, people could then move out west to hunt furs, they could mine for precious metals and start up their own farms or plantations. I don’t think there’s anything pertaining to spread of religion and culture Manifest Destiny in there, only the underlying motive of self success and the government’s thought of strengthening it’s own economy and might through land addition. The Mexican-American war was not of religion, but of the sole purpose of acquiring land. America was then able to rapidly increase in population and
Later they wanted to annex it but Mexico said that any attempts to annex Texas would be an act of war. The Mexican War started in 1846, when Mexicans attacked a group of United States soldiers, under the command of Zachary Taylor, in a disputed zone on the border of United States and Mexico, killing about a dozen American soldiers. President Polk told the U.S. Congress that the “cup of forbearance has been exhausted” which means the Mexicans hit the last straw and it is time for war. President Polk sent General Zachary Taylor to Nueces River vs. Rio Grande to poke the Mexicans to shoot and they did. The Mexicans have shed “American blood upon American soil.” The United States wanted war with Mexico now they have a reason to declare war ( History.com
One reason the Mexican War was justified was the United States Manifest Destiny beliefs. Evidence supporting this reason is that, according to Document A, John O'Sullivan said it was God’s choice if the United States will grow by taking or buying territory. Also, the annexation of Texas helped grow the United States which gave the
Also the way Texas began in a way that said that they should be apart of the United States. In the end there were more important reasons for annexing Texas into the union, than to leave Texas the way she was. From the early days of pioneers and settlers, thousands of Americans began to move into what would become Texas. The Mexican government wanted to populate the Texas area to increase the economy. For a long period of time the Mexican government had placed many laws on the territory, but none that were deeply enforced.
United States started the war with Mexico due to its imperial ambitions and need for territorial expansion. America was modernizing itself and getting ready to engage in competition with Europe. Capitalism and modernization fueled the competition for resources to feed the industries, and the markets to sell the manufactured goods. A country in this world was either an exploiter or the exploited by that order of things. Being neither one of those was the hardest to achieve. Americans decided to be exploiters; therefore, they needed to engage in competition with Europe, a group of empires dominating the world. To successfully compete with Europe, America needed the natural resources and advantage over trading routes Asia to engage profitable in business with Asian territories. Another reason Americans engaged in war with Mexico was to avoid domestic instability and chaos that would slow down its imperial progress. Issues of economic crisis and slavery were vital to solve. The U.S needed to justify their actions; thus, they put the blame on Mexico for starting the war. The War with Mexico was a significant event since it was the largest U.S military expansion for the reasons of modernization covered up as an act of self-defense.
Well before the beginning of the Civil War, Texas and some. of its surrounding territories were property of Spain just like its southern neighbor, Mexico. Soon after realizing their particular suppression by Spain, Mexico fought for, and won. independence from its mother country. Mexico now had control of their country and the territory of Texas.
In 1845 the U.S attempted to Annex Texas. Basically America wanted Texas to become one of the states rather then and independent nation by itself. At this time Texas was an independent nation that was not a part of America or Mexico. Mexico wanted to keep Texas neutral if not a part of its own country. When the U.S attempted to annex Texas Mexico became outraged, " In November 1843 Mexico had warned that if the United States should commit the 'unheard-of aggression' of seizing an integral part of 'Mexican territory' Mexico would declare war " (Bound for the Rio Grande, 62). Despite the warning the U.S attempted to annex Texas. In doing so Mexico retaliated by breaking off all diplomatic relations with the U.S. Mexico felt that the U.S was insulting them by not taking them seriously when they threatened with war. So at this point America showed a very large interest in possessing Texas. America was very close to actually acquiring Texas when they made their first mistake in the war.
The Mexican-American war determined the destiny of the United States of America, it determined whether or not it would become a world power and it established the size of the United States of America. Perhaps the war was inevitable due to the idea of Manifest Destiny - Americans thought they had the divine right to extend their territory. The Mexican-American War started mainly because of the annexation of the Republic of Texas (established in 1836 after breaking away from Mexico). The United States and Mexico still had conflicts on what the borders of Texas was, the United States claimed that the Texas border with Mexico was the Rio Grande, but the Mexicans said that it was the Nueces River, so the land in between were disputed and claimed by both the United States and Mexico.
Even if the United States wanted only to acquire land assuming that the country’s intentions did not lie in starting a war, the thesis still begs the question: How exactly does Manifest Destiny legitimize the war? In order to answer this question one must first define all of the key terms in the question. Manifest Destiny was defined early by Robert J. Miller but what exactly is the definition of “legitimize”? In order to properly answer the thesis question one must define legitimize in the context of the Mexican War. In Merriam Webster, legitimize is defined as, “to make legitimate”. Legitimate is defined as “allowed according to rules or laws,” or “real, accepted, or official,” or “fair or reasonable”. Therefore the entire transitive definition of legitimize is “to be allowed or accepted according to laws, rules, or reasonability.” In other dictionaries, such as the Oxford dictionary and Dictionary.com, the definitions
On April 24th sixty-three men and officers,were… dispatched from American camp. On the North bank of the Rio del Norte river Mexican troops saw the Americans and fired and killed sixteen Americans and also some soldiers wounded. No Mexicans were harmed.(Polk 325) When Mexico found out Texas was trying to annex herself to the American union Mexico got really fired up and the invasion started.”This had become necessary to meet a threatened invasion of Texas by the Mexican Army.’’(Polk 325) This quote shows that Mexicans got mad and wanted an invasion on Texas. Mexico fired upon Americans on Texas side of the Rio Grande.(Polk 325) This information shows that the Mexicans fired at the Americans on the Texas land. So therefore Polk had reason to got to war. Americans approach Rio Del Norte and, Mexicans did not think and fired immediately.(Polk 325) This shows that the Mexicans got scared and just started firing at the Americans. This evidence shows that the U.S. was justified to go to war because Mexico was not worthy to rule and so the Americans could take Texas. Mexico is not worthy to rule their country if they are just going to fire at everyone. Even though they are trying to protect their country they need to think before
Is manifest destiny enough to rightfully go to war? Mexico wanted to keep Texas as there own, but Texas was annexed by the United States. Mexico and the U.S. fought over disputed territory. Did the U.S. have good reasons to go to war with Mexico? The United States were not justified in going to war with Mexico because they didn't need a war, Polk provoked it, and America was seen as robbing Mexico's land.
"From Mexico's point of view, the annexation of Texas to the U.S. was inadmissible for both legal and security reasons. Thus, when the Mexican government learned of the treaty signed between Texas and the United States in April 1844, it … would consider such an act "a declaration of war. "..." (Document C) The U.S. knew that Texas still legally belonged to Mexico and when in fact, Mexico told the U.S. that annexing Texas is an act of war, they still decided to annex Texas. Consequently, the U.S. blatantly disregarded Mexico's warnings and in theory, started the war themselves even though they physically didn't fire the first
Have you ever heard of the Mexican-American War? It was another war with a lot of bloodshed over a wide amount of land, taking place in 1846, causing thousands of Mexicans and Americans to die. With having bloodshed, there were both supporters and critics in whether or not the United States was justified to go to war with Mexico for a large lot of land. People questioned whether or not the American’s actions were right against Mexico. Going back when Mexico had just won its freedom from Spain, the Mexican leaders had noticed what great land they had ranging from Guatemala to Oregon, there was low population, so in resolution Mexican leaders had welcomed U.S. settlers. With the settlers stationary on that land that Mexico had claimed
Manifest Destiny is the belief that it was God’s plan that America extends its territory all the way to the Pacific Ocean (Roden 317). In other words, all of North America is the United States, so no Canada, or Mexico! This however, is not valid at all, because the Americans cannot prove this theory to the Mexicans, due to the fact that is is only a belief. “Other nations have undertaken… hostile interference against us, ...hammering our power limiting our greatness and checking the fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by God for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.” (O’Sullivan 323). In this quote, the Americans use Manifest Destiny and their population increase as an excuse to take Mexico’s Land. For all the Mexicans know, the Americans could have made it up to have a reason for going to war. Evidence that supports the United States not being not justified in going to war with Mexico was that, the Mexicans did not know for sure that the Americans had God on their side, so they could be lying, and that would only cause more contentions among them. Another piece that supports that Manifest Destiny is not a good reason to go to war is that the Mexicans could say that God was on their side, and the Americans could not prove them wrong. Therefore, the United States was not justified in going
Texas was owned by Mexico before becoming independent and then finally being added to the United States. Texas was rich in Cattle farming and Cotton farming so it was a big hotspot for many Americans to move to. Mexico had strict laws enforced on the Americans coming including changing their religion to Roman Catholic, obeying Mexican laws, and becoming Mexican citizens. Many Americans wouldn’t listen to Mexico and for some time Mexico didn’t care but then Santa Anna came to power. Sant Anna wanted to drive all Americans out of Texas. The Texans and Mexicans began fighting. One major battle of Texas independence was The Alamo. In this battle Texans gathered at an old Spanish Mission. The odds were greatly against the Texans. Texas was greatly outnumbered and they were low on food. The Texans were led by William Travis. This battle lasted 12 days and finally ended with the Mexicans breaking into the Alamo and killing all of the remaining survivors. The Texans didn’t give up and fought the Mexicans again at The Battle of San Jacinto. The Texans had the battle cry of “Remember the Alamo” this rallied them to win the war in just 18 minutes. Texas forced Santa Anna to sign a treaty to recognize Texas as independent. Texas asked the United States to annex them because they were broke and wanted to stand up to Mexico. The United states said no because they didn’t want to be involved in a war with Mexico. The United